"Hoo."
Li Qinglian sat cross-legged and took a deep breath, drawing that soul ring toward himself.
The instant the soul ring touched his skin, a vast, violent surge of energy flooded into him.
Like lava that had been blocked for a thousand years finally finding an outlet, the energy crashed through his meridians and poured in wildly.
"Hiss!"
Li Qinglian's body suddenly went rigid.
That energy was too immense, too scorching.
Even as a master of Ultimate Fire, he still felt a searing pain rise from the depths of his marrow when faced with the primordial power of a twenty-thousand-year soul beast.
Soul Power surged through his meridians, battering every threshold. His muscle fibers stretched to their limits before slowly contracting, while fine, crisp cracks sounded between his bones.
Li Qinglian clenched his teeth as beads of sweat seeped from his temples.
He closed his eyes and used the warm azure-gold radiance of the Heart of Life to guide that energy slowly through his body, digesting, absorbing, and fusing it layer by layer.
Sweat dripped from his chin onto the scorching lava ground with a hiss, yet his breathing gradually steadied.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion lay some distance away, her golden pupils fixed unblinkingly on him.
She could sense that the soul ring's energy was steadily being subdued by Li Qinglian. Though his aura endured a violent impact, it had never shown any sign of collapsing.
"What a freak."
She muttered softly, the tip of her tail lightly sweeping the ground.
Scarlet King lay at her side, all three heads lowered, while his six crimson vertical pupils secretly and intermittently glanced in Li Qinglian's direction.
After a long silence, the middle head turned slightly and lowered its voice.
"This human... he's too monstrous. Shouldn't we kill him?"
The Three-Eyed Golden